Wine Bottle Photography

I have been taking photos of wine bottles for decades, some big brands like Whitbread, Threshers Wines and The Wine Society as well as smaller independent companies.

Occasionally I get hold of a  particularly good looking wine label to photograph, this being one of the best but also one that needed more attention to the lighting that the average bottle. The raised imposing and glossy red print of the label would have been completely lost if the wrong lighting was used. Multiple exposures were needed because the bottle label needed more than one lighting technique to bring out these great features.

Some of the highlights were photographed separately to get the best look, there were reflectors placed in their optimum position that would have been in the shot otherwise. I also photographed a combination of two types of lighting, one soft through a sheet of opaque trace for the left hand side reflection, and one just for the hard shadow on the right of the bottle using a small light that gave a hard light effect. The plinth that the bottle was on also needed several exposures that were later combined and retouched in Photoshop. 

Equipment used was a Broncolor Scoro power pack with Picolite and standards heads. Camera was a PhaseOne XF with 150mm blue ring macro lens. Software was Capture One Pro. I used a roll of opaque trace to the left of camera and a sheet of GF paper for the coloured background and the grey surface that the bottle was placed onto.

Having shot the bottle I took it home and gave it a good taste test, and I’m pleased to say it was delicious!

The camera used was a PhaseOne IQ3100 and Broncolor lighting. Software Capture One Pro and Adobe Photoshop.